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"Mm," Nicky concurs absently, playing along and even though Joe isn't there to see his face, he knows that there is a teasing smile on his lips, one that he wishes Joe could see if only to see how he's playing with him from afar.

"It was a very good battle. He called me many names I'm not sure you even know," he says. "It's only a shame that I don't get off on that." Not names, at least, but everything up to that point. After all, why else would he bicker so much with Joe?

"Doesn't it?" Joe challenges, when Nicky states that getting called names doesn't get him off. "I think you liked it a little, when I did it."

He's not entirely sure what Nicky is playing at, telling him about this other guy he argued with. He's not even sure if it truly happened, or if it's just Nicky messing with him but, weirdly, the thought of Nicky arguing with someone else as fervently as he did with Joe bothers him.

"And I thought I was the only one you enjoyed arguing with," he answers, mock-regretfully, though Nicky will probably be able to tell he means it to a certain extent.

"Joe, are you asking me if I'm arguing with other people?" Nicky drawls, amused at how seriously they both seem to be taking this, because he knows if the positions were reversed, he'd be livid to find out that there's another critic that Joe is using all his charm and wit on.

It's a lucky thing that he doesn't think there is, otherwise he would be very upset. "And maybe I do like it a little, but not with names." At least, not cruel ones. The thought of Italian pet names in Joe's voice makes him shiver, to the point he nearly needs to reprimand himself for allowing those thoughts.

He sips his espresso, adjusting his legs under him as he peers out the window. "Did you call only to find out who else I'm seeing? Or was there a point to this?"

"That would be heartless of you, Nicky," Joe confirms, playfully. "Making me think I was special, when this is something you do every day."

He doesn't truly think that's the case, for the record. Nicky is fairly difficult to read but there had been something sparking between them, first online and then when they had met, and Joe knows Nicky felt it too.

"Yes to bickering, no to insults, then," Joe replies, humming. "I'll remember." He takes another bite from his lunch, smiling at the question. "I called to ask you when you would be free to model for me," he states, amused. "I need to branch out, as per your enlightened advice."

"What if I told you that you were very special to me, Joe?" Nicky has pitched his voice down low, as if there's a fear of someone overhearing him when there isn't. He lives alone, there's no one that could hear him, yet the way he speaks would make Joe have to lean in.

He's telling the truth, though. "I don't go to every gallery show, and I don't reply to every angry email in my inbox. Just you. Only you."

That had been before he'd seen Joe in movement, proving his handsome pictures were only the start.

"Oh. Yes, the modelling," Nicky admits, even though they'd been mentioning it. "If you want me focused, then maybe on the weekend, but if you're fine to let me sit there and write reviews and emails, then I could do it anytime -- that is, if you still want me to model for you. I can't imagine it would be very interesting," he admits.

"... I'd be happy to hear it," Joe answers when Nicky mentions he's very special to him, a little belatedly. He feels warm, his heartbeat quickening in his chest. "Good. I don't usually invite critics to come and tear my work apart, either. Just you." Because he'd wanted to meet Nicky badly enough to risk an unpleasant encounter.

"Week-end, then, I think." He wants Nicky's full attention, and he does have to be at the exhibit on week days.

"I'll be the judge of that," Joe replies, sounding pleased. He personally thinks he will be very interesting, not just to draw someone who isn't him, but also to draw Nicky, who is the most attractive man he's seen in a long time. Because Nicky just praised him so openly, Joe feels comfortable adding, "you're very classically handsome, you know. You have the kind of face I've seen on Renaissance marble statues, or on Botticelli angels."

Nicky feels a similar warmth rush over him, a feeling he hasn't expected or anticipated. Joe has him completely surprised so often, and he's starting to realize that this is going to become normal. He breathes out raggedly, audible on the other end of the line.

Just him. It's just him.

"Weekend," he echoes, arching a brow at the fact that Joe wants his full attention. Well. All right, then. He snorts, though, at the notion that he could be a statue or an angel. "I don't think you're looking at them closely enough. None of them have my nose," he deadpans, wryly.

For the record, Joe loves the way Nicky's breath sounds, coming out ragged and loud. He wants to hear more of it.

"Next weekend?" Joe asks, smiling. "Saturday afternoon, and I'll make you dinner?" That's a bit bold for a first date, but Nicky has already basically agreed, so he doesn't feel self-conscious.

"Some of them have your nose, Nicolo," Joe counters, sounding amused. "I'll send you pictures, if you like. A lot of Roman statues have big noses, provided they've survived the test of time. Strong profiles are always better, for an artist to represent." Nicky's nose is lovely, Joe will not hear otherwise.

Nicky's about to agree when Joe offers to cook dinner on top of sketching him, with his full attention. He hasn't done anything like this in a while, but he suspects that this is going to be a real date and not just continuing their flirtations and bickering in a more private place.

Suddenly, it's very serious.

"You can send me all the examples you like, but I'm still going to think you're just flattering me." It is a bit odd, isn't it? Even he doesn't want to cut at Joe as much, would rather think of his beautiful hands working on the sketches. "Saturday afternoon, and then dinner after, that sounds fine," he agrees.

"What should I bring? And don't say nothing. You're doing so much already."

It is going to be a real date, yes. Joe wants it to be, so he'll do his best to make it so, if Nicky allows. He's not sure what this is yet but he's already all in, his heart suddenly beating a little faster as he waits for Nicky to agree.

"I wouldn't do it to flatter you. You don't know me that well, but I think you know me enough to realize that's not something I do," Joe points out, sounding amused. "Saturday, then. You can bring wine, if you like. Something that goes well with Mediterranean cooking."

Honestly, since Nicky is agreeing to model for him, making him dinner is the least Joe can do, in his opinion.

"I don't know. I do know you well enough to think that maybe you're fucking with me," Nicky admits with a sly smirk, fiddling with his earbud as he thinks about getting wine-drunk near Joe and how much that will incapacitate him, from the way it will make his cheeks flush to the way his whole body will get overwarm.

So maybe, "A white? I know it's not traditional, but I'm sure I could find a good white to offset fish," he suggests calmly, knowing that red wine has a tendency to get him over-warm and have terrible ideas.

That makes Joe laugh, leaning back in his chair, his eyes crinkling fondly at the corners. "Not about the face, Nicky," he reassures, sounding delighted. "Never about the face."

It's true, too. He'll make fun of Nicky for many things, but physical appearance isn't a joke he's likely to make. It would be tough, too, as he finds Nicky singularly attractive.

"If you'd like," Joe agrees, easily. "Something dry, not sweet. It could work." He'll drink any wine Nicky chooses to drink, honestly. He can adapt the menu to work with white wine, even.

That almost sounds like Joe likes his face. It goes both ways, though he's not sure he wants to give Joe the satisfaction of admitting that too loudly, even if he is thinking it. "Well, I'm glad to hear that my nose isn't on your list of things that you'll willingly insult," he quips, but his voice is suffused with warmth.

They're going to have a date, aren't they? He's bullied this poor artist into having a date with him, with wine and dinner and drawing.

"And what is the dress code? Should I wear something specific for your sketches?"

That definitely sounds like Joe likes Nicky's face. He does, a lot. It's a very nice face, in Joe's humble opinion. "There are so many things to pick from," Joe teases, lightly. "I don't need to go for your nose, if I want to insult you."

For reasons that might not be clear to Nicky, the question makes Joe chuckle. "Whatever you like, honestly. It won't matter much, for the sketches." Joe is assuming Nicky realizes why, but he could be assuming wrong. "I have to wear an old T-shirt if I'm going to use charcoal and paint, because it stains. I'll put on a nicer shirt for dinner, though, if you like," he adds, playfully.

"I wouldn't ask you to dress up in your own home, especially when you're already going to be providing me dinner," Nicky says, a touch defensively at the idea that he would be putting Joe out like that. "You can wear your charcoal-stained clothes to dinner, I won't mind."

And he won't, given his own fashion sense starts and stops with a lot of comfortable t-shirts that he wears.

"I know your walls at your show mainly had you, but when was the last time you did have someone model for you?" he asks, mainly out of curiosity and not actually jealousy.

Nicky's defensive answer makes Joe smile, humming. "Thank you," he says, sounding genuinely appreciative of the sentiment, despite the way Nicky worded it. "I think I will want to dress up. It's not every day I have dinner with an art critic who ripped my work to shreds and then agreed to model for me," he teases, though Nicky's review was only mildly critical and they both know it.

"A few months ago," Joe answers, earnestly. "I had a friend model for me. I mostly wanted to practice drawing her hands, those are pretty tricky. But I did a few sketches of her face, if you want to see what you're getting into."

Then it is going to be a fancy date. Nicky will have to dress accordingly, his eyes sliding to his closet where he thinks he still owns a few nice button-down shirts. There's a black one that should set his eyes off properly and with a decent pair of jeans and boots, he won't look overly dressed.

Nicky lifts his chin, feeling that expected hit of jealousy flicker through him to hear Joe speak of another model. "A woman," he echoes, and tries to figure out how to approach this carefully and sensibly. Then, he decides to just be blunt. "And do you have a preference? Drawing women? Men? Both?"

The fanciest Nicky dresses, the more Joe will compliment him, so it will work out for both of them.

"A friend," Joe corrects, smiling. He can tell Nicky is a little tentative with the subject, and it makes him hum. He doesn't mind bluntness, when it comes to this particular matter. He'll answer Nicky's questions earnestly, both the one he's asking and the one he's not asking. "I don't have a preference for models, no. As long as they are interesting, I'm happy to sketch just about anyone." He grins. "If you're asking about my sexual orientation however, it's just men."

He's a little upset at just how relieved he is that Joe qualifies that he'd drawn a friend, who is a woman. Having him continue to say that he's into men is an unexpected little piece of trivia. "They don't publish that in your biography, I had wondered," Nicky admits.

He's not racing to make his own statement, not because he doesn't want to be open, but because he's accepted a date with Joe, he thinks it should be fairly obvious.

"I'm beginning to understand some of your work," he admits. "An idealized sense of self?" He's back to prodding and teasing, a jest that Joe can't possibly be as handsome and beautiful as those works of art.

"It's not relevant to my work," Joe says, shrugging though Nicky can't see him. He doesn't make a secret of it, but unless he's working specifically on LGBT themes, he doesn't advertise it either.

Joe doesn't need Nicky to reveal his own sexual orientation in return, really. As long as he's interested in Joe himself, that works for him.

He snorts, finishing his meal and leaning back in his chair, amused. "A nuanced representation of humanity," he counters, just as teasing. "With its beauty and its flaws." He grins. "Don't worry. I'll nuance your portrait as well."

"And seeing as I never saw your dating profile on any website, I suppose it wasn't relevant before we met by you replying to my review with such kind thoughts," he quips, feeling his heart beating faster as he thinks about Joe, who sleeps with men.

Calmati, Nicolo. Just because it's been almost a year since he's had a one-night stand with anyone doesn't mean he should be throwing himself at an artist who may only get off on the bickering. Who knows if there'll still be a spark if they get along?

He snorts at the idea of something nuanced about him. "If you erase my nose in your nuance, I don't know what I'll think," he warns.

"I don't really use dating apps and sites," Joe answers, easily. He's had his fair share of one-night stands himself, but not many recently. As he's getting older, he's less interested in finding someone just for the night, and more into making true emotional connections with people.

He grins at Nicky's playful words. "Well, your initial review was so considerate and generous, I just had to respond in kind," he taunts in return. He doesn't resent Nicolo for the review though, not anymore. If anything, it was what brought them to meet, and Joe is grateful for that.

"Again with the nose, Nicky," Joe complains, amused. "I'm not erasing your nose. I told you, it's lovely. We're keeping it. I might give you two, actually. Front view and profile, make it a Picasso."

"No, I suspect if you did use those sites, you would be mauled," he mumbles, and only after he does, he realizes that he said that part out loud. He's chagrined, a little, even if he ruefully laughs and ducks his head down, not entirely minding the fact that he confessed it.

Well, it's there now, what he thinks of him at least from a physical point of view.

"My initial review was cutting and blunt, even if it was honest," he admits, because he still knows that he stands by his opinion. He might reshift, rethink, and change slightly, but he would never double back completely like a weak-spined coward.

He snorts at the idea of a Picasso-esque portrait of his nose. "Why would you make anyone suffer with such a thing?"

"Why, Nicky," Joe answers, sounding pleased. "I thought you believed I was flattering myself, on all those paintings." He keeps his tone light and playful, though he is genuinely pleased by the compliment. He finds Nicky so attractive, it's good to know it goes both ways. "Do you use them? Handsome chap like you, I'm sure you'd get lots of messages," he adds, grinning.

"Your initial review made you seem like a conceited asshole," Joe tells him, blunt too because Nicky is inviting it. "That turned out to be only partly true," he adds, obviously not meaning it.

"It's good practice," he tells Nicky, sounding serious though he has no intention of sketching Nicky Picasso-style. He'd rather make it realistic, really.

It's a good thing this isn't a video call, because the way Nicky blushes is not meant for anyone else's eyes, furious and terrible as it is, and just how much it makes him seem utterly at Joe's mercy. He is, though. "I said you were flattering your body, which I have not seen," he clarifies.

"I said nothing about you exaggerating the face,' is a pointed and calm comment, sly in its own way.

Nicky snorts a little. "I was going to say. I am a little bit a conceited asshole, but most artists only thrash against the words and ignore the advice. You did not do that." It's why he'd been so intrigued and interested. "I think you can be great, Joe, really great. I just want to help guide that."